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Purpose: This research seeks to understand, for the first time, what motivates knowledge-intensive organizations (KIOs) to initiate knowledge management (KM) activities in times of routine and emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic was placed at the center as a case study of an extreme crisis. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the adoption of the qualitative-constructivist paradigm, the study was conducted among 52 KM professionals through in-depth interviews and focus groups. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis method, according to the principles of the grounded theory approach. Findings: The findings reveal that opportunities and risks are two types of catalysts which accelerate KM efforts in times of routine and emergency respectively. Due to KM's support of the transition to flexible employment during COVID-19, the authors show that this field experienced real growth and prosperity in the "new normal." KM initiatives were promoted during the COVID-19 crisis in light of gaps in retention, sharing, accessibility and development of knowledge. Originality/value: Given that knowledge risks are a field with fragmented understanding, the results contribute to understanding the importance of risk management related to knowledge in times of crises and turmoil. The authors call for incorporating this niche into the overall risk management of the organization, while adopting a holistic and long-term perspective of KM. Furthermore, the authors uncover KM's position in KIOs during the global pandemic. The paper proposes food for thought regarding informal knowledge sharing in virtual environments typical of the "Corona routine". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using sentiment analysis (SA), this study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and virtual learning experiences among 1,125 students at a public Argentinean faculty. Design/methodology/approach: A study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, surveying 1,125 students to gather their opinions. The survey data was analysed using text mining tools and SA. SA was used to extract the students' emotions, views and feelings computationally and identify co-occurrences and patterns in related words. The study also examines educational policies implemented after the pandemic. Findings: The prevalent emotions expressed in the comments were trust, sadness, anticipation and fear. A combination of trust and fear resulted in submission. Negative comments often included the words "virtual", "virtual classroom", "virtual classes" and "professor". Two significant issues were identified: teachers' inexperience with virtual classes and inadequate server infrastructure, leading to frequent crashes. The most effective educational policies addressed vital issues related to the "virtual classroom". Practical implications: Text mining and SA are valuable tools for decision-making during uncertain times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. They can also provide insights to recover quality assurance processes at universities impacted by health concerns or external shocks. Originality/value: The paper makes two main contributions: it conducts a SA to gain insights from comments and analyses the relationship between emotions and sentiments to identify optimal educational policies. The study pioneers exploring the link between emotions, policies and the pandemic at a public university in Argentina. This area of research still needs to be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Higher education institutions (HEIs) seek innovative approaches to attract students. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many HEIs have considered diversification through digitalization. From the initial urgency to implement technology at the start of the pandemic to a gradual acceptance over time, HEIs witnessed a shift in perceptions. This paper aims to explore the evolution of the use of technology in HEI classrooms from pre- to post-Covid-19 as seen through the eyes of students and faculty members. Design/methodology/approach: Seven surveys were conducted from March 2020 to January 2023 with faculty members and students at one business HEI in Switzerland. This longitudinal study analyzed the perceptions of faculty and students regarding technology in the ever-changing HEI environments. These results have been used to make practical recommendations for future HEI classroom settings. Findings: The findings reveal that the social aspect must be considered when implementing technology into HEIs. Faculty members and students need appropriate training and adequate resources to engage with the technology in and outside the classroom. The results suggest that one result of the pandemic was a greater acceptance of blended learning practices in traditional business education. Originality/value: The pandemic has left long-lasting effects on teaching and learning. While many HEIs revert to traditional ways, the authors suggest the need to embrace technology that encourages engagement and authentic teaching and learning. HEIs must listen to their faculty members and students, to create more innovative learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to review the critical challenges and factors influencing the successful adoption of electronic learning (e-learning) systems in higher educational institutions before and during the current propagation of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This study undertook a literature review concerning the in-depth revision of previous studies published in 2020 and 2021. A total of 100 out of 170 selected research papers were adopted to identify and recognise the factors restricting the application of e-learning systems. Findings: The findings determine and illuminate the most challenging factors that impact the successful application of online learning, particularly during the wide propagation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The review of the literature provides evidence that technological, organisational and behavioural issues constitute significant drivers that frontier the facilitation of the e-learning process in higher educational institutions. Practical implications: The current paper suggests a guide for managers and scholars in educational institutions and acts as a roadmap for practitioners and academics in the educational field and policymakers as this research spotlights the significant factors challenging the e-learning process before and during the pandemic crisis. Originality/value: The provided in-depth literature review in this research will support the researchers and system designers with a comprehensive review and recent studies conducted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic considering the factors limiting the e-learning process. This paper formulates a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge that will assist the stakeholders in the higher educational institutions' context. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-02-2022-0085. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the authors investigate whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacts household finances, like household debt repayments in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs a vector autoregressive (VAR) model that nests neural networks and uses Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) techniques. The authors use data information related to COVID-19, financial markets and household finances. Findings: The authors' results show that household debt repayments' response to the first principal component of COVID-19 shocks is negative, albeit of low magnitude. However, when the authors employ specific COVID-19-related data like vaccines and tests the responses are positive, insinuating the underlying dynamic complexities. Overall, confirmed deaths and hospitalisations negatively affect household debt repayments. The authors also report low persistence in household debt repayments. Generalised impulse response functions (IRFs) confirm the main results. As draconian measures, the lockdowns are eased and the COVID-19 shocks are diminishing, and household financial data converge to the levels prior to the pandemic albeit with some lags. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of the pandemic on household debt repayments. The authors' findings show that policy response in the future should prioritise innovation of new vaccines and testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper evaluates trends shaping the post-pandemic reality. The framework adopted is a case study of the V4 region (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) that illustrates broader trends, their direction of change and their influence on the entire region. This paper aims to identify key trends and analyse how they can facilitate or hinder sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a multidisciplinary literature review and an online real-time Delphi study carried out across four European countries. Findings: The results indicate that the influence of negative trends on sustainability is much stronger than that of positive ones. Concerning the trends' driving factors, the blockers of negative trends have a much higher influence on sustainability than the blockers of positive ones. The study shows that the most significant trends affecting sustainability are distributed throughout various fields of human activity, including geopolitics, social issues, education, the environment, technology and health. Practical implications: The findings presented below can be used primarily by decision makers from the V4 region, who are responsible for crafting strategies regarding post-COVID recovery. The study illustrates trends that V4 countries and other European Union member states might be facing in the future and analyses how they relate to sustainability. The conclusions indicate that the most effective path to the desired level of sustainability is one that incorporates policies built around the blockers of negative trends. Originality/value: The importance of this study lies in its focus on countries that had previously received little attention in scientific analyses. The paper shows their possible developmental pathways and sheds light on the framework of integrated foresight and its applications in sustainability-related areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly affected urban communities, generating the need for an immediate response from local governance. The availability of urban data platforms in some smart cities helped the relevant actors to develop various solutions in an innovative and highly contextual way. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of data platforms in smart cities in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 85 studies were identified using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science electronic library. After applying exclusion and inclusion criteria, 61 publications were considered appropriate and reasonable for the research, being read in-depth. Finally, only 52 studies presented relevant information for the topic and were synthesized following the defined research questions. During the research, the authors included in the paper other interesting references found in selected articles and important information regarding the role of data in the fight against Covid-19 in smart cities available on the Internet and social media, with the intention to capture both academic and practical perspectives. Findings: The authors' main conclusion suggests that based on their previous expertise in collecting, processing and analyzing data from multiple sources, some smart cities quickly adapted their data platforms for an efficient response against Covid-19. The results highlight the importance of open data, data sharing, innovative thinking, the collaboration between public and private stakeholders, and the participation of citizens, especially in these difficult times. Practical implications: The city managers and data operators can use the presented case studies and findings to identify relevant data-driven smart solutions in the fight against Covid-19 or another crisis. Social implications: The performance of smart cities is a social concern since the population of urban communities is continuously growing. By reviewing the adoption of information technologies-based solutions to improve the quality of citizens' life, the paper emphasizes their potential in societies in which information technology is embedded, especially during a major crisis. Originality/value: This research re-emphasizes the importance of collecting data in smart cities, the role of the diversity of their sources and the necessity of citizens, companies and government synergetic involvement, especially in a pandemic context. The existence of smart solutions to process and extract information and knowledge from large data sets was essential for many actors involved in smart cities, helping them in the decision-making process. Based on previous expertise, some smart cities quickly adapted their data platforms for an efficient response against Covid-19. The paper analyzes also these success cases that can be considered models to be adopted by other municipalities in similar circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To effectively generate solutions to today's complex challenges, cooperation between governments, industry, civil society and academia is essential. To adequately prepare students for collaboration across academic and non-academic disciplines and stakeholders, Living Labs (LLs), unique research internships have emerged in the educational systems, which are focused on generating insights for society while embedding student learning in both practice and academia. To legitimise the LLs as a method of education in the academic curriculum, it is necessary to evaluate the experience of and potential benefits for students with regard to the development of their academic, professional and personal skills. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the outcomes of participating in LLs from the student's perspective via a case study at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. A secondary aim is to evaluate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning experience of the students. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed self-reported pre-and post-questionnaires into students' confidence levels with regard to their academic, professional and personal skills. A total of 35 questionnaires were conducted during the period February 2020–July 2021. The authors subsequently applied evaluation research, using a benchmarking approach, to analyse the data. Findings: This study firstly indicates that students are most confident in their personal skills, both before and after conducting the LL, and that they further developed these due to being pushed outside of their growth zone by the various challenges posed during the LL, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, while students seem to have become more aware of their professional skills in the LL, this was the aspect on which no improvement was reported after conducting the LL, potentially due to an increased awareness of one's own room for improving professional skills outside of academia. Thirdly, students' reported academic skills improved the most during the LL, which highlights the importance of embedding academic learning both in theory and practice. Lastly, the impact of COVID-19 changed the setting of the LL which led to challenges but also opportunities with respect to research design, time investment and communication. Practical implications: As LLs seem to contribute to transversal and academic skill development of students, we can legitimise their increasingly common place in higher education curricula. LLs are not only beneficial for stakeholders and society as they generate new insights into societal questions, they are also of added value to students who actively collaborate with the external organisations and researchers. The LLs can thus be seen as a method of education which contributes to students' preparation for future careers, which is one of the main tasks of higher education institutions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the LLs were conducted online, which resulted in disadvantages and advantages. Future LLs can be anticipated on more hybrid or even further online collaborations, which also opens the possibility of collaboration with international organisations located at different parts of the world. In this case, extra attention will need to be devoted to aligning expectations among the different stakeholders and specifically focussing on ways to ensure good communication. Originality/value: This case-study is one of the first studies that specifically looks at the newly emerging concept of LL research internships and the perception of the student while conducting LLs with societal partners. Previous literature on the topic is scarce and, if existing, has mainly focused on the benefit of the partner organisation or society. Instead, we purposefully reflect on how the collaboration contributes towards students' professional development and employability. By doing so, this paper is one of the first to shed light on the benefits accrued to students' development by participating in an LL. In addition, as the case study, unexpectedly, took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were also able to evaluate the influence of COVID-19 on the LLs and draw insightful lessons learned for future collaborations with local and international partners in an online setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced human society; statistics have shown many countries ended 2020 with minimal or even negative economic growth. This pandemic proved that development biased to economic issues without considering other factors such as social and environmental is not sustainable, and it can even be the source of the crisis. This paper aims to discover plausible alternative futures at the macrolevel where nations, businesses and societies can change routines, and approach to a better peaceful future. Design/methodology/approach: To accomplish this, trends emerged after the COVID-19 pandemic are studied and some uncertainties are identified. At the intersections of uncertainties, scenarios are shaped based on the Global Business Network (GBN) methodology. GBN helps to draw macrolevel images about plausible futures. The main uncertainties rose from three different but interconnected natures including: approach to the globalization (social perspective), approach to the concept of value (business perspective) and approach to the governance (states/governance perspective). Each uncertainty can take two extreme alternatives; consequently, eight scenario spaces with different probability are formed by the intersection of alternatives. Then the most favorable scenario is introduced and strategies are proposed to achieve a better future. Findings: In the current paradigm in which countries will sacrifice the environment for economic growth in the race to rapidly rebuild their economy, concerns for the post-COVID-19 will continue to mount. While, in the favorable scenario, value creation is sought in sustainable development. This means deviation from a favorable scenario to achieve short-term goals is completely predictable. Although we have learned that the COVID-19 pandemic is controllable and manageable as time goes by, but no effort or commitment has been seen in the governments to eradicate the COVID-19 sources (at least till today). Originality/value: The main originality of this research appeared in the practical aspect. This paper analyzes and projects scenarios at the global level and studies challenges that societies, governments and businesses are facing in the modern world with biased development paradigms. Moreover, different viewpoints to deal with global crisis are assessed and criticized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As Covid-19 became a pandemic, numerous people were forced to stay at home, leading to increased intimate partner violence (IPV) in many countries, particularly in developing and least-developed ones. This paper aims to highlight the IPV based on 15 different cases formed from the practical evidence of five developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed 15 women from five countries who were the victims of IPV during the early periods of Covid-19 outbreak. Due to geographical remoteness, the authors conducted informal telephone interviews to collect the participants' personal experiences. The conversations were recorded with participants' permission; afterwards, the authors summarized participants' experiences into 15 different cases without revealing their original identities (instead, disguised names were used). Findings: It was revealed that the women were the primary victims of such violence, particularly from their intimate partners (husbands). In most cases, such IPV, as reported by the interviewees, originated or increased after the pandemic when they were forced to stay at home, losing their partners' jobs or income sources. Originality/value: The authors summarized the causes of IPV and put forward a few action recommendations based on the interviewees' practical experience and existing literature. This paper will open a new window for research investigations on IPV during emergencies such as Covid-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Housing policies in India (last modified in 2017) define "affordable housing" on three main parameters – income of the target group, dwelling unit size and house price to income ratio. The Covid-19 pandemic has questioned the robustness of the defining parameters of affordable housing. This paper aims to study the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on housing affordability and adequacy for the urban poor and highlights how one pandemic has directly challenged the practicality of the affordable housing criteria in urban India. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a pilot test conducted through interviews with the consumer group. Furthermore, the affordable housing policies of urban India were studied in conjunction with the pandemic guidelines laid down by the World Health Organization. The consumer responses were analyzed in relation to the policies and guidelines to arrive at the inferences. The secondary case examples of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai and the Savda Ghevra slum resettlement colony in Delhi, along with the findings of the primary survey in the economically weaker section category, are used to formulate the conclusions. Findings: The pilot test conducted for the target consumer group clearly indicates that (i) the pandemic has severely affected the housing purchase capacity of the target consumer, thereby questioning the "affordability" of housing; (ii) proposed housing solutions are inadequate to enable livability, thereby questioning the "adequacy" of housing; and (iii) proposed housing solutions are inept to accommodate pandemic protocols. The Covid-19 pandemic and the conditions it imposed on the built environment clearly highlight the inadequacy of affordable housing parameters being followed in urban India. Research limitations/implications: Further research may be conducted on global best practices in housing, which may advise the housing policies in India. Practical implications: The study suggests key areas that need intervention and modification to make the housing policies more robust and effective. Social implications: The study explores the social sustainability aspects of housing, which are often considered secondary in policies. Originality/value: Because housing has a direct bearing on the physical, social and mental well-being of society, it is imperative to find housing solutions that are safe and resilient for a sustainable future. This paper is an original attempt by the author to question and highlight how the current affordable housing solutions adopted in urban India will continue to fail under any external adverse conditions unless modifications are considered in the existing housing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine landlords' health support systems to tenants to control COVID-19 in selected informal settlement rental housing (ISRH) in Ghana, dwelling on landlords' views. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used the concurrent imbedded mixed-methods approach and grounded the findings in the socio-ecological theory. The authors collected both qualitative and quantitative data from 242 landlords in 13 informal settlements across Ghana using quotas. The authors undertook semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews. The authors conducted content and thematic qualitative data analysis and used simple descriptive statistical data analysis. Findings: The paper discovered that tenants had limited knowledge on the transmission of the pandemic, forcing landlords to regulate their building services usage, ventilation and thermal control, entertainment, common areas and rent advancement for tenants to control the pandemic. Also, tenants found it difficult to comply with the rules on ventilation for fear of criminal attacks, while high social connection and interaction among renters and inadequate enforcement caused the non-adherence by renters to social gathering. Again, landlords had difficulty in contract-tracing visitors suspected to be infected with the virus. Originality/value: The use of concurrent and imbedded mixed methods to investigate landlords' viewpoints on their support in health needs of their tenants to regulate COVID-19. The prescriptions from the study provide practical applications to formulate a mix of housing and health policies to formalize the support of landlords to their tenants in ISRH in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the economic impact of uniform COVID-controlling policies that were implemented by the US government in 2020 and compare it with hypothetical targeted policies that consider the heterogenous effect of COVID-19 on different age groups. Design/methodology/approach: The author began by showing that the adjusted SEQIHR model is a good fit to the US COVID-induced daily death data in that it can capture the nonlinearities of the data very well. Then, he used this model with extra parameters to evaluate the economic effects of COVID-19 through its impact on the job market. Findings: The results show that targeted COVID-controlling policies could reduce the US death rate and GDP loss to 0.03% and 2%, respectively. By comparing these results with uniform COVID-controlling policies, which led to a 0.1% death rate and 3.5% GDP loss, we could conclude that the death rate reduction is 0.07%. Approximately 378,000 Americans died because of COVID-19 during 2020, therefore, reducing the death rate to 0.03% means saving a significant proportion of the COVID-19 casualties, around 280,000 lives. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first study to assess the economic impacts of COVID-controlling policies by using the multirisk SEQIHR model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic is known to have affected the logistics and supply chains; however, there is no adequate empirical evidence to prove in which way it has affected the relationship between the stocks related to this field with the corresponding cryptocurrencies. This paper aims to test the dynamic relationship of cryptocurrencies with supply chain and logistics stocks. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the author tests the causal and long-run relationship between logistics and supply chain stocks with the corresponding cryptocurrencies related to these fields, or those that are known to exhibit characteristics that can be utilized by these fields, testing also whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected this relationship. To do so, the author performs the variable-lag causality to test the causal relationship, and examines if this relationship changed due to COVID-19. The author then implements the multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis to investigate the characteristics of a possible long-run relationship, testing also whether they changed due to COVID-19. Findings: The results indicate that there is a positive long-run relationship between each logistics and supply chain stocks and the corresponding cryptocurrencies, before and also during COVID-19, but during COVID-19 this relationship becomes weaker, in most cases. Moreover, before COVID-19, the majority of the cases indicate a causal direction from cryptocurrencies to the stocks, while during COVID-19, the causal relationships decrease in multitude, and most cases unveil a causal direction from the stocks to cryptocurrencies. Originality/value: The causal pattern changed during COVID-19, and the long-run relationship became weaker, showing a change in the dynamics in the relationship between logistics and supply chain stocks with cryptocurrencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This conversation presents the reflections from six international disaster scholars on how disaster capitalism manifested in very different ways in different countries, including Japan, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, India and South Africa, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the conversations that took place on Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast livestream on the September 15, 2020. Findings: The prominent themes in this conversation include profiteering, oppression and the politics of disasters. Originality/value: The conversation contributes to the ongoing discussions around disaster capitalism and disaster risk creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to determine the differences in students' attitudes related to online and traditional teaching, then to determine the level of student satisfaction with online teaching, factors affecting it as well as to examine the problems students most often face during online teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The survey method is used to collect primary data. In the empirical research participate 312 students on the territory of the Republic of Serbia who used e-learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistical analysis, paired samples t-test, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling are applied in the paper. Findings: Research has shown that students are generally more satisfied with traditional than online teaching. Then, the analysis shows that professors' activities and the quality of e-learning have ? Significant positive effects on student satisfaction with online teaching, as well as on student motivation, then perceived usefulness has a positive impact on motivation and intention to use e-learning and student motivation has statistically significant effects on satisfaction with online teaching. The biggest shortcomings of online teaching are: monotonous teaching, lack of interaction with professors, lack of interaction with other students as well as lack of socialization. Originality/value: Although a large number of studies have studied e-learning and student satisfaction, this paper has studied e-learning in the specific conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of particular value to this paper is the comparison of student satisfaction with online teaching during the pandemic and student satisfaction with traditional teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the mental health problems during COVID-19 and the role of nutrition in minimizing mental and health-related issues during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: A literature search was done electronically on April–May 2022 in the databases Google Scholar, PubMed and Cochrane Library, reviewing all the articles published in English. There were no limitations for the study (such as study design, region or any time frame). The quality assessment was done. The beginning database search picked out a total of 654 articles, 47 in PubMed, 575 in Google Scholar, 22 in Cochrane Library and 10 records from other sources. A total of 565 (duplicates found 89) were found after removing the duplicated articles, after reading the title and abstracts were further decreased to 88 full-text articles. These 88 studies went for full-text analysis, which excluded 56 studies and generated a final 32 articles for systemic analysis. The quality of the included study for the systematic review was assessed in two ways: one is evidence-based and another one on the JBI checklist. Findings: People in social isolation and home quarantine suffer from severe anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, anger and panic attack. During COVID-19, the vital role of diet and nutrients in mental health has been acknowledged and helps mitigate COVID-19 infection. Many studies showed stress and anxiety due to increased unhealthy eating and lifestyle practices. Originality/value: This review will explain the interlink between diet and mental health because what we eat and think is interconnected with the gut–brain axis. The dietary elements and psychobiotic help in improving the immune system and psychological distress during the pandemic. This paper describes the role of different nutrients, psychobiotics and phytochemicals, to minimize mental and health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper also contains a balanced diet plan to withstand COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The globe has experienced a devastating COVID-19 pandemic, putting the planet under lockdown and causing social alienation. The near collapse of social and economic activities is disrupting the supply chain. Customer-required products were in low supply across the world. A slew of new digital firms springs up to fill the need during this time. This study aims to reach a holistic goal by better understanding customers' digitalisation behaviour. The first step is to review existing consumer digital psychology research to map this study's current knowledge of the pandemic's early and late phases and the impact of digital businesses on consumer behaviour. Finally, it provides lawmakers with a future agenda for limiting the digital psychology of consumers and enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: This study used the Scopus and Web of Science databases to extract records to follow the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses statement. The final 57 papers were applied after the screening process. The digital environment, psychological digitalisation and behavioural changes were recognised as three primary classes based on a comprehensive examination of the previous literature. This study identified possible difficulties in earlier literature: the scarcity of collaborative and transdisciplinary research on digital psychology, which various academics have emphasised in the past. On the other hand, these investigations were primarily conducted in the psychological surroundings of technology users. Findings: According to this study, digital psychology has improved significantly during the pandemic and many new digital start-ups have arisen. This study also used digital research to create a framework for a pandemic strategic response plan to help minimise the current COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future outbreaks. Originality/value: The study mapped existing literature on digital psychology alterations because of the novel COVID-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to explore, using an analysis of the three components of memes content, form and stance – whether and how the memes offer a broad picture of a specific society during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The author collected, from the two largest Facebook groups in Israel, 25 memes with the largest number of likes in each month, beginning from the month in which awareness of COVID-19 increased significantly, between March 2020 and February 2019. A total of 597 memes were collected. The data were analyzed by a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Findings: Findings indicate that meme culture effectively reflects a society's situation and the challenges it faces. Memes also reflect local cultural icons and effects. Meme contents vary across groups. During a crisis, memes do not function as fertile groups for sharp criticism or calls to take action to resolve society's social ills. Practical implications: Memes may serve as a tool to understand and explore an unfamiliar, foreign culture, its state of mind and its history through meme culture. Social implications: Memes may constitute a platform for relieving stress through light-hearted humor, unaccompanied by a true call to action; that is, "slacktivism" which gives a sense of active participation without involvement in actual activities for change. Originality/value: The study reveals that the Israeli meme culture is not activist and rather focuses on humor to relieve stress. Memes may be used as "bread and circuses" or a means of "slacktivism" that fails to call to genuine activism. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2022-0381 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using textual analysis the authors study the relationship between social media sentiments and stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The study analysis is based on a sample of 1,616,007 tweets over the period January to June 2021 for seven countries. The authors process the tweets via the VADER analyzer thereby producing both positive and negative sentiment measures. Findings: Particularly, the authors prove that higher positivism is associated with a short-term increase in stock prices. On the other side, negativism relates inversely to stock prices with long-term impact, in the case of English-spoken countries. Notably, the study results remain robust to the inclusion of various control variables, including virtual fear and Google vaccine indexes. Finally, the authors prove that positivism is associated with higher returns and lower volatility in the short-run, while negativism is linked with lower returns in the short run. Practical implications: The study analysis also has significant policy implications for researchers, investors and policymakers. First, researchers can employ our measures to quantify market sentiments and expand their research arsenal to incorporate social media trends, thus providing better explanatory power. Second, during times of severe uncertainty such as in a pandemic period, investors could beneficially take into account our textual measures and empirical results when using asset pricing models or constructing their portfolios. Third, the finding that the stock market is heavily governed by sentimental behaviors, especially during crisis periods, implies that policymakers including central banks, governments and capital market commissions must consider these sentiments before exerting their policies. In this regard, governments can effectively develop policy tools and approaches to manage recovery from the pandemic, which translates to greater long-term economic resilience. Moreover, central banks should accordingly adjust their monetary policy measures in order to stabilize financial markets, and by extension, to stop the pandemic from turning into a renewed financial crisis. For example, asset purchase program is considered the main instrument of this kind of intervention. Originality/value: The authors confirm that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. The paper should be of interest to readers in the areas of finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Following the COVID-19 outbreak, there are concerns whether economies are becoming farther from equality and competency. While this matters to every economy, it is more crucial for developing ones who already suffer from income inequalities and lack of competency. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses an administrative data from the Iran's Social Security Organization (ISSO) that provides insurance to workers entitled to the Labor Law of Iran. The data contain more than 7,000,000 workers. The authors assess heterogeneous impact of the first wave of the pandemic by firms' size and average payment. Findings: The authors' estimation results indicate that, following the initiation of the pandemic, the workers whose corresponding firms are smaller, overall, are more prone to the pandemic and are more likely to submit a request for unemployment benefits. However, the relation is neither homogeneous across sectors nor linear among micro-sized firms. Few sectors indicate a positive relationship between size and likelihood of request submission, including cultural activity, shoemaking and clothing sectors. Besides the size, the authors investigate whether pay grades could explain the probability of becoming unemployed after the pandemic. Results show that workers whose corresponding firms pay less are more likely to submit a request. This is robust within different sectors. Research limitations/implications: The ISSO dataset is not a panel, so the authors cannot employ methods of causal inferences. The authors' results should be seen as correlation; however, due to exogeneity and sharpness of the pandemic the result infers to some degree of causality. The data does not cover the informal sector, so the estimates are at lower boundary. Originality/value: Administrative data on unemployment benefits during COVID-19 show that the pandemic interferes with competition by forcing low-paid workers and small firms to exit the market. This is an alarm for the competition in every economy, specially developing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study focussed on information literacy practices, specifically on how higher education staff managed the transition from established and routinised in-person teaching, learning and working practices to institutionally mandated remote or hybrid working patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative study forms part of a broader research project, examining how information literacy and information practices unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase Three of this project, which forms the subject of this paper, employed semi-structured interviews to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace and, in particular, the role that technology and digital literacy plays in enabling or constraining information literacy practices necessary for the operationalisation of work. Findings: The complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a fracturing of workplace information environments and worker information landscapes by disrupting all aspects of academic life. The study recognises that whilst the practice of information literacy is predicated on access to modalities of information, this practice is also shaped by material conditions. This has implications for digital literacy which, in attempting to set itself apart from information literacy practice, has negated the significant role that the body and the corporeal modality play as important sources of information that enable transition to occur. In relation to information resilience, the bridging concept of fracture has enabled the authors to consider the informational impact of crisis and transition on people's information experiences and people's capacity to learn to go on when faced with precarity. The concept of grief is introduced into the analysis. Originality/value: This study presents original research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Nowadays, the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an important change in teaching models. The emotional experience of this change has an important impact on online teaching. This paper aims to explore its time evolution characteristics and provide reference for the development of online teaching in the post epidemic era. Design/methodology/approach: The article firstly crawls the online teaching-related comment text data on Zhihu platform and performs emotional calculation to obtain a one-dimensional time series of daily average emotional values. Then, by using non-linear time-series analysis, this paper reconstructs the daily average emotion value time series in high-dimensional phase space, calculates the maximum Lyapunov exponent and correlation dimension and finally, explores the feature patterns through recurrence plot and recurrence quantification analysis. Findings: It was found that the sequence has typical non-linear chaotic characteristics; its correlation dimension indicates that it contains obvious fractal characteristics; the public emotional evolution shows a cyclical rise and fall. By text mining and temporal evolution analysis, this paper explores the evolution law over chronically of the daily average emotion value time series, provides feasible strategies to improve students' online learning experience and quality and continuously optimizes this new teaching model in the era of pandemic. Originality/value: Based on social knowledge sharing platform of Q&A, this paper models and analyzes users interaction data under online teaching-related topics. This paper explores the evolution law over a long time period of the daily average emotion value time series using text mining and temporal evolution analysis. It then offers workable solutions to enhance the quality and experience of students' online learning, and it continuously improves this new teaching model in the age of pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is becoming a crucial health problem worldwide. Continued and high-speed mutations of this virus result in the appearance of new manifestations, making the control of this disease difficult. It has been shown that well-nourished patients have strong immune systems who mostly have short-term hospitalization compared to others. The purpose of this study is to review the major nutrients involved in the immune system reinforcement and to explain nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: In this review paper, the mechanistic role of nutrients in boosting the immune system and the nutritional aspects during the recovery of COVID-19 patients were discussed. Papers indexed in scientific databases were searched using antioxidants, COVID-19, inflammation, immune system, macronutrient, micronutrient and probiotic as keywords from 2000 to 2022. Findings: Because of the adverse effects of drugs like thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and hypercholesterolemia, a balanced diet with enough concentrations of energy and macronutrients could increase the patient's durability. The inflammatory cytokines in a vicious cycle delay patients' rehabilitation. The main mechanistic roles of micronutrients are attributed to the downregulation of virus replication and are involved in energy homeostasis. Dysbiosis is defined as another disturbance among COVID-19 patients, and supplementation with beneficial strains of probiotics helps to exert anti-inflammatory effects in this regard. Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients. Originality/value: Being on a well-planned diet with anti-inflammatory properties could reverse cytokine storms as the major feature of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to determine the safe and effective dose of dietary factors to control the COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to find out the digital services of management libraries provided during the library closure and the challenges and initiatives the libraries have taken up to fulfill the need of their user community during the pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach: To meet the purpose of the study, the investigators have used a survey method. An online questionnaire was devised and administered among the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) librarians using Microsoft Forms. Findings: The study's findings suggested that all the libraries under investigation must avail of various digital library services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Further, the investigators recommend that libraries formulate a disaster preparedness and management plan in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic so that libraries can prepare themselves for the future. Originality/value: The pandemic has affected every aspect of life and changed the digital library services scenario. Thus, it is essential to examine the role libraries have played during the COVID-19 pandemic and distinguish the challenges and initiatives libraries have taken to tackle the problems they faced. This study has been conducted on the digital library services that were provided by the libraries of IIMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on library and information services (LIS) and how library professionals overcome the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic in the current reality. Design/methodology/approach: This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladesh's LIS professionals. A structured online questionnaire was designed for the purpose of a quantitative survey. The respondents of this study were LIS professionals in all categories of libraries (e.g. academic libraries, public libraries, special libraries and national library) in Bangladesh. A total of 106 responses from LIS professionals in Bangladesh were received. This study analyzed qualitative data using Braun and Clark's technique for thematic coding. Researchers interviewed librarians in two phases (during the COVID-19 pandemic and after COVID-19) about how libraries cope up with the COVID crisis. The descriptive findings were examined using diverse descriptive statistics (i.e. frequency numbers and percentages), and for examining the significant differences among demographics' information regarding challenges faced by LIS professionals, Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted. The qualitative responses were carefully analyzed for familiarizing, coding and theme generation. Findings: The result showed that most LIS professionals (i.e. 46.2% and 43.4%) had faced difficulties in accessing e-resources from home and had failed to maintain balance between work and personal life and to offer remote library services. The LIS professionals mostly used Facebook Messenger and Zoom to communicate with their colleagues and users. Furthermore, many LIS professionals (50.0%) secured their health and safety, adopted hygienic procedures at their workstations and provided virtual reference services. The qualitative findings show that though some libraries have faced challenges in providing online sources and services due to the absence of authority interest, budget scarcity and inadequate information and communication technology infrastructure, some libraries took the initiative to establish library institutional repository and make it available for users from home. Research limitations/implications: The present study only concentrated on the staff and their actions during and after the pandemic, which was mentioned as a limitation. It would be more effective if the study also considered the user's viewpoint. The researchers hope that this study will help LIS professionals to support and provide digital and innovative service initiatives in their organization. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first of its kind study in Bangladesh where the staff of all types of libraries expressed their views on the problems they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and the steps they took recently to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This systematic review aims to synthesize the literature reporting the motives, sociodemographic, attitude/behavior and impacts of fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic, targeting the general population worldwide. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic review approach was adopted based on PRISMA, targeting articles published in five databases from January 2020 to November 2021. The screening resulted in 46 eligible papers. Findings: Results indicate low level of awareness, knowledge, media/health literacy, low trust in science/scientists and entertainment/socialization to be the main motivating drivers for fake news dissemination, whereas the phenomenon is more prominent among those with low socio-economic status, and males. Negative impacts were reported due to fake news dissemination, especially violation to precautionary measures, negative affections, and low trust in government/news, with many believing that others are more susceptible to fake news than themselves. Social implications: Considering the pandemic is still on-going and the deleterious consequences of fake news, there is a need for cohort-based interventions from the concerned authorities. Originality/value: The systematic review covers a wide timeline of 23 months (i.e. up to end of 2022) targeting five well-known databases, hence articles examined are deemed extensive and comprehensive. The review specifically focused on the general population with results revealing interesting motives, sociodemographic profiles, attitude and impact of this phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-02-2022-0082. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical overview of compassionate release policies in the USA and describe how these policies have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors then describe how these programs have been shaped by COVID-19 and could be reimagined to address the structural conditions that make prisons potentially life limiting for older adults and those with chronic illness. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is primarily descriptive, offering an overview of the history of compassionate release policies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors augmented this description by surveying state Departments of Corrections about their utilization of compassionate release during 2019 and 2020. The findings from this survey were combined with data collected via Freedom of Information Act Requests sent to state Departments of Corrections about the same topic. Findings: The findings demonstrate that while the US federal prison system saw a multifold increase in the number of individuals released under compassionate release policies in 2020 compared to 2019, most US states had modest change, with many states maintaining the same number, or even fewer, releases in 2020 compared with 2019. Originality/value: This paper provides both new data and new insight into compassionate release utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic and offers new possibilities for how compassionate release might be considered in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to undertake the efficiency analysis in the form of stochastic frontier to estimate a Cobb–Douglas production function by controlling for the heterogeneity across Russian firms by including firm size, ownership, age, innovation activity and market competition. Design/methodology/approach: During the peak period of Covid-19, certain firms witnessed either a decrease or increase in sales. Using this segregation of firms from World Bank's Covid-19 impact surveys follow-up to the Enterprise Survey for Russia, this study empirically investigates the determinants of technical efficiency of these firms focusing on the role of government assistance. Findings: The findings suggest that by segregating firms in terms of sales, different internal factors can enable in steering through pandemic situation besides just depending on external assistance. Originality/value: One of the few papers to analyse the impact of the pandemic on Russian firms by considering World Bank Covid Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to identify the causal effect of the COVID-19 induced crisis on students' decisions about their educational plans. The authors hypothesise that students adjusted their decisions by delaying graduation, dropping out or change the field of education because of increased uncertainty about future employment and monetary returns. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical approach is based on a survey done during the first wave of COVID-19 in Slovenia. The probability of dropping out, prolonging or stop-out is designed by applying probit and probit with insturmental variables empirical model. Findings: Primary orientation towards work increases the probability of dropping out and financial constraints increase the probability of prolonging studies. The same holds after accounting for endogeneity. However, the authors do not find that poor job expectations due to COVID-19 affect students' decisions to prolong, drop-out or stop-out. The authors also find that the primary orientation toward work or study explains the differences in the probability of each outcome that is not influenced by enrolment in a particular field of study. Research limitations/implications: The results cannot be read as an objective prediction of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on college failures. However, the study provides insight into how students' expectations change their intentions to prolong, drop-out, or stop-out during periods of high uncertainty. The extent, to which measured intentions are realised, however, is uncertain. Practical implications: Understanding the response diversity and motives behind students' study decisions represents extremely valuable insights for economic policy. Mapped apprehensions, augmented by heterogeneity in personal and financial characteristics, are relevant for policymakers. In terms of future research, it would be interesting to analyse what changes occurred over a five-year period, specifically which field of study was most affected by students' adjusted plans due to the pandemic. Social implications: Students have always been a special group in the labour market. After the initial shock of closing activities, studying online and the drastic decrease in student work due to COVID-19, the decision was made in spring 2020 to continue on the chosen path or not. This paper provides insight into the changing decision students made about their educational plans. Originality/value: This paper is one of the first to highlight the implications of COVID-19 for the adaptation of student plans in the transition from school-to work in Europe. It departs from the classical literature of college failures, as specific macroeconomic conditions influence students to reconsider their educational decisions. Moreover, the paper also contributes to the rapidly growing literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household-level labour market outcomes, particularly with respect to job search and labour supply decisions in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore waiting times in improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper aims to help develop a better understanding of waiting times in IAPT so that interventions can be developed to address them. Design/methodology/approach: IAPT national data reports was analysed to determine access and in-treatment waiting times before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Time-series data was used to examine referral patterns, waiting list size and waiting times between the period of November 2018 and January 2022. The data covers all regions in England where an IAPT service has been commissioned. Findings: There was a dramatic drop in referrals to IAPT services when lockdown started. Waiting list size for all IAPT services in the country reduced, as did incomplete and completed waits. The reduction in waiting times was short-lived, and longer waits are returning. Practical implications: This paper aims to contribute to the literature on IAPT waiting times both in relation to, and outside of, COVID-19. It is hoped that the conclusions will generate discussion about addressing long waits to treatment for psychological therapy and encourage further research. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no published research examining the performance of IAPT waiting times to second appointment. The paper also contributes to an understanding of how IAPT waiting times are measured and explores challenges with the system itself. Finally, it offers an overview on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on waiting time performance nationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this second study into information literacy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic is to identify the conditions that influence the emergence of information literacy as a safeguarding practice. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative research design comprised one to one in-depth interviews conducted virtually during the UK's second and third lockdown phase between November 2020 and February 2021. Data were coded and analysed by the researchers using constant comparative techniques. Findings: Continual exposure to information creates the "noisy" conditions that lead to saturation and the potential for "information pathologies" to act as a form of resistance. Participants alter their information practices by actively avoiding and resisting formal and informal sources of information. These reactive activities have implications for standard information literacy empowerment discourses. Research limitations/implications: The paper is limited to the UK context. Practical implications: Findings will be useful for librarians and researchers who are interested in the theorisation of information literacy as well as public health and information professionals tasked with designing long-term health promotion strategies. Social implications: This paper contributes to our understandings of the role that information literacy practices play within ongoing and long-term crises. Originality/value: This paper develops research into the role of information literacy practice in times of crises and extends understanding related to the concept of empowerment, which forms a central idea within information literacy discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper seeks to assess the level of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on professional practice for members of professional organisations and the general public in the conduct of business. Investigations into practice using events, attendance records and registered views are carried out. The aim is to identify the challenges and actions being taken to mitigate against them in moving from physical (face-to-face) to virtual (online) mode of operations. Design/methodology/approach: The past two years have seen a complete change in the way we live from life at home, at work and in education. This has impacted the way professional organisations now conduct business including the need to revise ways of upskilling and sustaining practice. Core to all of this is the role of computing and communication for all persons in all works of life. The current study focusses on professional activities and support provided to members of British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT. The authors examine the events provided, the conduct support provided to members and the general public. The method includes use of surveys of all stakeholders and analysis of data obtained. Findings: The onset of COVID-19 pandemic was perceived as a real shock for everyone everywhere. Contrary to expectations, faced with the reality of having to do everyone online, the current study found that there were observed increased in the number of activities of professional organisations worldwide. Most interesting is that fact that the number of people participating in these events was found to be increasing using e-learning and other associated online tools and resources. Participants of these events were no longer restricted to local members but widespread globally. There was the appetite for more events to be put up and willingness for more individual and groups to volunteer and/or participate. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of current study are that only a few of the many activities have been investigated in this one professional body, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. The fact that more events are now being carried out for the many groups and branches implies a lot more digital data would be available for further study to inform developments of members and the general public. Practical implications: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic is a huge and evolving. It remains and presents a complicated case for the world to deal with. Amongst the many realities is that living life online has become a new normal and one everybody must learn to adjust to. Professional organisations such as the BCS would need to think of not only their members but also the general public and how well society and business can be sustained going forward. This involves considering developments of educational resources and appropriate platforms to meet the needs of the public, private and the voluntary sectors in society. Social implications: Due to restricted physical (face-to-face) interactions, previously developed processes would require reviewing. New informed policies would need to be developed and implemented by professional organisations on revised practices resulting from impact of the pandemic. The emanating global participation from local activities presents challenges involving time, space (geographical location) and cultural differences. The digital divide that exists in society and access to the fast and reliable Internet services are also worth considering. Originality/value: The impact of COVID-19 on professional practice applied to education and business is important in the face of the many and varied challenges everyone is facing everywhere in the world. This has been intense at home and at work globally. Although the true cause is yet to be established, it is important that ways to address challenges and continue with life are found and implemented. This paper establishes some of the impacts and present recommendations that are useful in forging ahead for people in the information technology profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Providing loans, particularly to small-scale farmers, is one of the roles of formal financial institutions. Lending to small farmers is risky. An institution's health is closely related to the institution's ability to manage credit and portfolio risk. Expanding smallholder farmers' access to finance while maintaining a sustainable financial system is essential; however, pandemics present additional challenges. Accordingly, as reported in the literature, the pandemic's high loan default rates and decreases in return on assets (ROAs) call for further credit risk management research. There have been limited studies on credit risk management during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), so this article aims to provide useful information on its influences. Design/methodology/approach: Researchers used data from formal financial institutions in 2018 (before COVID-19) and in 2021 (during COVID-19) to accomplish the study's broad objective. Descriptive and inferential statistics were the main analytical tools. The credit risk management indicators were categorized into collateral management, loan management, loan recovery management, governance and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Weights were assigned to each category based on the importance to credit risk management. A binary logit model was employed in assessing the factors influencing credit risk management as proxied to loan repayment, while Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used to examine factors that influence ROAs. Findings: One of the most noteworthy findings is that credit risk management is affected by different factors and magnitudes before and during the COVID-19 era. Loan recovery and ICT management indicators were most influential during the pandemic. In addition, the study noted that low agricultural productivity during the pandemic contributed to an additional challenge in loan default rates because of various COVID-19-containing measures. Additionally, there was a lack of governance and ICT management capacity to drive credit and portfolio risk management during the epidemic. Originality/value: The paper presents new empirical findings on credit risk management during the COVID-19 era. The study used a methodology which has not been used previously in credit risk management in Nigerian financial institutions. Therefore, this research could become the cornerstone of further academic research in other developing countries using this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to deliberate the significant impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also discusses SMEs' practical approaches to capitalise on the renewed opportunity in the new normal by expanding their businesses regionally and globally. This paper also discusses the tactical and strategic interventions SMEs need to take to charge forward. Design/methodology/approach: The resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991) is used to explain how SMEs develop a sustainable competitive advantage in the new normal. The resource-based view focuses on the link between strategy and firm internal resources. Drawing from the resource-based view of the firm, internal analysis of the resources that are regarded as sources of competitive advantage controlled by the SMEs is imperative in today's business environment. Based on the resource-based view theory, this paper focuses on reinventing SME's strategies in the new normal to foster sustainability. Findings: Post-COVID-19 pandemic, SMEs must essentially be dynamic, forward-looking and transformational in capturing the regional and global markets' opportunities. They need to sharpen their internal competencies and realign their effective business strategy in seizing the vast opportunities in the international markets. Practical implications: How SMEs respond to COVID-19 has important implications for subsequent performance in the new normal. This study focuses on the different potential SMEs' reactions to COVID-19 and how their strategy affects SMEs performance and fosters sustainability in the new normal. Social implications: The sustainability of SMEs is critical for the nation's socio-economy. This study offers a holistic view of how SMEs respond to their challenges and help them choose the right business options. Originality/value: This paper's contents are solidly based on accumulated evidence, observation and critical arguments on the impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that caused numerous challenges faced by the SMEs, with a specific focus on SMEs operating in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address the global COVID-19 pandemic related to its sustainability, such as environmental, economic and social concerns. The short study also examined how various innovative approaches can help promote sustainable production. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology examines hypothetical scenarios of the current pandemic and tries to describe the quality of evidence to facilitate careful, critical engagement by readers. Secondary data is used to identify sustainability challenges, such as environmental, social and economic viability challenges. The information in this report was gathered from numerous media outlets, research agencies, policy papers, newspapers and other sources to gain a better knowledge of the issue. Findings: As a result, most industry executives and policymakers are looking for appropriate strategies and policies to improve their practices and meet consumer demand. The outcomes explore that the COVID-19 pandemic is a central factor in changes in people's behavior, reflecting sustainability such as environmental, social and economic responsibility. The COVID-19 outbreak, surprisingly, had a bigger effect on sustainable consumption, accompanied by environmental sustainability, and, to a lesser extent, social and economic viability. Research limitations/implications: Limited secondary evidence and data could not scrutinize the study's actual problem statements. Hence, it is recommended that the gap in research be fulfilled by conducting a primary survey among various groups of economists, environmentalists and industrialists using the cluster sampling technique by validating the questionnaire of the total sustainable production system. Proposing frameworks for improving the resilience of production and a systematic possible upgraded manufacturing system by using the Industry 4.0 technology during operational processes could advance market demand. Practical implications: The COVID-19 scenario has compelled manufacturing firms to put their production systems on hold for an extended period while they seek long-term solutions to assure simple delivery and cooperation from both business and consumer standpoints. Various aspects of supply and demand are discussed in the referendum, as well as production and consumption challenges during the COVID-19 era. There is a need to restore the production system and find the right source of raw materials. This work focuses on commodity inventory management systems due to mass production, but due to pandemics, it is not in demand and vice versa. The researcher made comprehensible remarks on the use of digitization in the pandemic, which improves social distancing and social well-being and promotes the production system as well. Besides, manufacturing plants should switch to digital manufacturing to reduce the number of workplaces and hence the risk of an outbreak. Therefore, a better supply chain network is needed to supply more manufacturing units. Social implications: There is a bright side of coronavirus that the public health crisis raised worldwide has brought many opportunities for governments and society to make eternal reforms in the public health sector door. During restricted movements for fulfilling market demand, the Industry 4.0 technologies for automation, mechanization and digitalization can help significantly advance a company. This technological advancement and computer digitization for the perspective people may improve the environment, economic and social sustainability also increase social media adoption, which can be crucial for agri-businesses to evaluate customers' behavior and consumption trends. Originality/value: The paper also instructed to identify critical success factors, barriers and drivers for dealing with the pandemic situation and to develop a strategic policy framework to improve production and process flexibility through the remarkable introduction of digital manufacturing. Before it is too late to stop the spread, producers and consumers must grasp the limits to which suppliers might drive nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) leaves Indian business teetering on the edge of survival. This paper aims to set out to assess the impact of the pandemic shocks on the small and medium business segments in India. The research also explores the strategies that potentially take the segments back to recovery and growth. Design/methodology/approach: The findings draw on the perspectives of academic and business people, and the authors use linear and nonlinear regression modelling under three recovery scenarios to support our arguments. Findings: Evidence suggests that the shocks to business are manifold and the severity of most of the issues will aggravate as the recovery prolongs. Practical implications: The paper explains the rationale of realistic strategies and compares its effects across potent recoveries. The findings are useful for both academics and business and relates to the strategic decisions that would be taken by small and medium enterprises to expedite recovery from the crisis. Originality/value: The research is unique in surveying the academics and entrepreneurs about the impact of COVID-19 on Indian business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the implementation of sustainable business models contributes to improving a firm's performance during a global crisis, such as the one caused by COVID-19. Based on the triple bottom line theory, the paper explores the relation between the creation of value through solid corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, United Nations (UN) Global Compact's (GC) business model proposals and Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) reporting scheme. Design/methodology/approach: The present paper studies companies within the European Union, focusing specifically on the long-term impact of using the world's most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI's standards and/or the UNGC management models, as well as on the firm's performance based on the financial results during COVID-19 crisis. To achieve this goal, the study analyses the share price of firms publicly listed in the FTSEMIB (benchmark index of Italy's largest trading platform) out of those companies that are implementing the UN and GRI's tools. Findings: Findings show how a commitment to sustainable business models and long-term CSR strategies can contribute to firm's ability to overcome periods of economic crisis. Furthermore, implementing GRI standards and UNGC guidelines within the business model seems to have a positive impact in overcoming a hard context such as COVID-19. In addition, it contributes to a better understanding of stakeholders' needs, consumer profiling and value creation. Originality/value: This study evaluates firms' business models, considering the effects of decisions made in the context of COVID-19. The role of UNGC and GRI is evaluated in terms of their contribution to firms' financial performance and corporate reputation during a context of hardship. Consequently, this study contributes to academia and practice, adding value in areas related to strategic planning and business model design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a mixed-methods study on the impact that COVID-19 has had on adult safeguarding. The research sought to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 to both frontline and non-frontline professionals working in adult safeguarding. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods project was undertaken comprising a literature review, survey, semi-structured interviews and a small number of freedom of information requests. This paper presents the findings predominantly from the survey and interviews. Findings: Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has presented a variety of challenges for professionals working in adult safeguarding. The themes that occurred most often were the day-to-day changes and challenges, relationships across sectors, information and navigating the ethical questions in safeguarding. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the findings represent the first focused qualitative mixed-method study aimed at understanding more about the impact the pandemic has had on adult safeguarding through the eyes of those professionals working in that field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines how one group of frontline health workers (nurses) amid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic perceive the Government of Ghana (GOG)'s decision to ease the lockdown restrictions when cases were increasing. This paper contributes to the literature on Igor Grossman's concept of wise reasoning and its applicability to COVID-19 management decision-making by political leaders. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employed an exploratory qualitative design. The decision to adopt qualitative method is linked to the paucity of research on wise reasoning, political leadership and COVID-19. The paper draws on qualitative online survey with 42 nurses located in Accra Metropolis, Ghana. Findings: The paper demonstrates that a confluence of research participants perceived the government's act of easing the lockdown restrictions to be in bad faith on account of (1) nonrecognition of different perspectives and viewpoints from stakeholders and interest groups; (2) rising number of cases which naturally make the decision to lift the restriction unwise; (3) concerns about the prioritization of peripheral issues over citizens' health and (4) concerns about limited and robust health facilities and their implications. Research limitations/implications: The key claims must be assessed against the limitations of the study. First, the study is an exploratory study and, therefore, not intended for a generalization purpose. Second, the research participants are highly educated, and the responses in this study are skewed toward them. Originality/value: The paper is novel in seeking to explore wise reasoning and political leadership during a global pandemic such as COVID-19. This exploratory study demonstrates that COVID-19, though devastating and causing havoc, presents an opportunity to test Igor Grossmann's wise reasoning framework about decision-making by political leaders. This extends the literature on wise reasoning beyond the discipline of psychology (the fact that all the authors are geographers) and Global North to Global South since the data for this study are gathered in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore leadership and information dissemination during a crisis like COVID-19. The article reviews the information produced and published during the crisis. The author proposes a typology of information and categorizes messages based on their contextualization within the Caribbean environment. Design/methodology/approach: The research method is developed around three main stages: a review of literature on leadership and information dissemination; synthesis of information to inform the typology; and discussion of the information reflecting the interplay between leadership and information dissemination. Findings: The literature shows a legacy of deceit that dominates the history of healthcare for Blacks and Caribbean people. This heritage has helped to fashion individual attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic in the Caribbean. The research also highlights that in addressing the several typologies of information, varying leadership styles came to bare. The democratic leadership style was the most dominant among the Caribbean countries, while some illustrations of autocratic leadership were visible. Other leadership facets and traits fashion responses by the leaders in managing information dissemination during the crisis. The paper also observes a triangular system of information which highlights where influences exist between relationships (governments, media/NGOs and society) and how such relationships lend to shaping the behavior of others. Research limitations/implications: Limitations on the research are based on the author's philosophy and interpretation. In addition, much of the information surrounding COVID-19 is novel and hence difficult to fact-check because of the unique nature of COVID-19. Practical implications: This paper provides a better understanding of the typology of information during a crisis like COVID-19. The discussion on leveraging leadership strategy and competencies for dissemination of information during a crisis provides an optimistic perspective to guide leaders in managing information dissemination during a crisis. Social implications: The typology is helpful in delineating the way society interprets information based on other crisis. It also helps with assessing the leadership styles and understanding potential tailor-made strategies. Originality/value: The development of an information typology that provides insight into the influence that historical perspectives give to interpreting information in a health crisis in a Caribbean context. The research also looks at the strategies pursued by Caribbean leaders as they adopt novel and promising techniques to communicate during a crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to assess whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has encouraged governments to take actions towards fostering digital means of payments and financial transactions to stimulate economic activities and achieve higher financial inclusion. Design/methodology/approach: Using a logit model, this paper tests the impact of the level of income and GDP per capita, government effectiveness, digital adoption, number of commercial banks and the pandemic-related closure of business and stores due to full lockdowns on governments' policy response regarding digital means of payments. Findings: The author finds that low- and lower-middle-income countries had significantly responded to the surged need for digital means of payment during the pandemic compared to the upper-middle-income and high-income countries. The author also finds that government effectiveness and the number of commercial banks were predictors of government policy response, while the full lockdown of countries and the overall digital adoption were not. Research limitations/implications: Data of the post-COVID-19 pandemic are limited, and the sample size is small. Originality/value: This is the first paper to empirically model governments' response during the pandemic to promote digital means of payments. This paper gives insight into post-crisis potential changes in digital payment adoption in the upcoming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations in England. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative mixed-methods approach was applied, including a review of the academic literature, a review of the non-academic literature and a brief semi-structured survey. Respondents of the semi-structured survey included seven healthcare leaders from four different NHS Mental Health Trusts in England. This review applied thematic analysis to the data findings. Findings: Mental health organisations in England have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the identified resources found four overarching areas for learning: organisational structures, approaches to practice (working and delivering care), leadership and staff support. Organisational structures refer to structural, systemic and procedural changes that have taken place. Approaches to practice relate to shifts in organisational work and delivery of care. Leadership identifies styles used to manage change and disruption. Staff support refers to measures and interventions applied to meet changing staff needs and well-being. Practical implications: Mental health organisations can reduce the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through continuous improvements in future crisis planning, innovations in clinical practice and a sustained focus on staff well-being. Originality/value: A multi-dimensional exploration into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health organisations was conducted. The review also provides insights into the experience of healthcare leadership in managing change during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Living a nutritious lifestyle requires that people get a sufficient amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals every day. Healthy dietary practices are related to a stronger immune system, better prevention and easier recovery from illnesses, lower blood pressure, healthy weight, lower risk of diabetes, heart problems and other medical conditions and improved overall well-being (WHO, 2020). Therefore, to maintain a strong immune system able to prevent diseases and ease recovery, optimal nutrition and healthy habits are of increased importance during a pandemic such as Covid-19. However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 22 million Americans have lost a job between February and October 2020, increasing the unemployment rate from 3.5% in February 2020 to 6.9% in October 2020, reaching a peak of 14.7% in April 2020. Job losses during the Covid-19 crisis are likely to put lots of families at risk of malnutrition and food insufficiency and to further deteriorate the already existing food insecurity (Gundersen et al., 2018). This research explores the effect of a recent job loss between August and October 2020 on food sufficiency. Design/methodology/approach: This research examines the impact of a job loss on nutrition and food safety. Specifically, this study explores the effect of a job loss during the Covid-19 pandemic on the level of family and child food sufficiency as perceived by the respondent, confidence about meeting family's dietary needs in the four weeks following the interview, and an indicator of whether the food sufficiency status of the family has deteriorated or not. This study also determines the differential effect of a job loss by individuals who are still employed despite the loss relative to workers who remained unemployed after a job loss during the Covid-19 crisis. Subsample analyses based on ethnicities, genders and educational attainment are also performed to identify the most vulnerable groups. Findings: The results provide evidence that a job loss is associated with a highly statistically significant deterioration of food sufficiency for families and children and a reduction in the confidence in food security for the near future. This effect is observed for all job losers, but from them, it is larger for the ones who are currently unemployed compared to those who are working. The association between a job loss and family's nutrition insecurity is the greatest for Hispanic, males and people with some college. Children's nutrition suffers the most for children whose parents have not completed high school. These results provide an insight into the adverse effect of Covid-19 on food security. Practical implications: From a policy perspective, the results indicate that federal nutrition programs whose goal is to ensure that the dietary needs of Americans, and especially children, are met, which are most likely to benefit the Hispanic population, individuals with low educational attainment and individuals who remained unemployed after losing a job. Originality/value: This study makes several contributions to the growing literature on food security. First, this study is novel in that it examines the effect of an ongoing event, specifically a labor market disruption as a result of a health and economic crisis, on families' nutrition, and does so using the newest publicly available data designed to track the impact of Covid-19 on the American population. This is one of the first studies that investigates the forementioned impacts in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study further contributes to the literature by distinguishing between employed versus unemployed individuals despite a job loss and by studying distinct groups on the population. In addition, this study compares the effects of interest in the onset of the pandemic to a year later to examine the population's adjustment to the crisis. The importance and relevance of the results for policy decision-making are also discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors examine the short-term stock market reaction surrounding US layoffs during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) period. The authors' specific interest is on any changes that may be observed in US stock markets during the COVID-19 outbreak. This information will help us assess the extent to which policymakers adopted at time revenue and expenditures measures to minimize its negative impact. Design/methodology/approach: The authors study the linkage between layoffs announced by firms and stock markets in US for the COVID-19 period between March 2020 and October 2020. This period shows important economic figures; a huge number of job cuts announced by blue-chip companies listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) due to widespread economic shutdowns. The authors examine whether and to what extent stock markets in US have reacted to layoff announcements during the COVID-19 pandemic using an event-study methodology. Findings: The study's results show that US layoffs during the pandemic did not cause any abnormalities on the stock returns, either positive or negative. Based on the mean-adjusted volume, the authors find that layoffs increase the stocks' trading volume, especially on the event date and the day following the event. US stocks become more volatile on the days following the event. Interestingly, on the event date, the authors find that stocks get the highest abnormal volatility; however, the result is statistically insignificant. Practical implications: The authors suggest that layoffs announcements follow the business cycle quite closely in most industries. The study's results have implications for investors, regulators and policymakers as they permit to examine the effectiveness of the measures adopted. Social implications: The study's results show that policymakers reduced uncertainty implementing intensive measures quickly and should follow similar policy in the future pandemic and/or unexpected events. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature in two directions: First, to the best of the authors' knowledge this is the first study that provides empirical evidence and assesses the extent to which a major global shock such as the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered the reaction of US stock markets to layoff announcements. Second, this is the first study on this topic that examines volume and volatility abnormalities, while the authors check the robustness of the findings with different methods to calculate abnormal returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Unsafe food can lead to various foodborne diseases and even death, especially among children. This paper aims to assess food safety knowledge and changes in practices and concerns among adults ≥ 18 years during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted among 325 adults living in Northern India. Demographic data and information regarding their knowledge, practices and concerns about various food safety issues were collected to see if there were any changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: The results showed that the participants had slightly higher than average knowledge and good food safety practices with mean scores of 9.75 ± 2.23 and 24.87 ± 2.28, respectively. Contracting COVID-19 from food and food packaging materials was of high concern for more than 70% of the participants. Majority (> 80%) of them reported an increase in the frequency of handwashing. About 16% of the participants used chemical disinfectants for washing fruits and vegetables. An increase (57.5%) in the frequency of food label reading was also noted during the pandemic. Freshness and the general quality of food items (49.5%), safety of food (30.8%) and cost (18.2%) were the top drivers that influenced the purchase decision. Originality/value: This study highlighted the need to send out clear messages on safe food handling practices and keeping the tempo up for sustaining good hygienic practices. This will help in reducing the risk of foodborne diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Concerned with the rising social, economic and technological disruption in the world, the impact of the technological disruption had a significant impact on the future of work and it has been tremendously increased in past five years. Further, with the rising uncertainties and COVID-19 in the picture, the trends suggested by earlier literature might not hold. The purpose of this paper is to understand the evolution of technology in the workplace in the past five years, how does it stand during COVID-19, will the trend continue in light of disruption caused by COVID-19, the impact of COVID-19 on the future of work. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses bibliometric techniques to identify the conceptual and intellectual structure of the studies. The programming language named after authors Robert and Ross (R) software and Biblioshiny were used to identify the structures and the themes underlying those structures, which further helped in forecasting the trends of the studies. Findings: The paper shows the drastic evolution of the studies in past few years and different technologies implemented at the workplace in the same period. It further identified the influential papers, authors, journals in the area with an emphasis on the various collaboration network among authors and countries. It also paints a picture of the impact of COVID-19 on the future of work. The paper finally concluded with future directions for the emerging trends and themes in the area in aftermath of COVID-19. Originality/value: This paper takes the microscopic view of the studies carried out in the past five years as during the past five years, the studies related to this topic have grown tremendously and accordingly many trends have been identified but with the COVID-19 pandemic in the picture, the trend is likely to get accelerated. This paper takes this view and identifies the trends in the future by identifying the themes based on periods and at different levels – organizational, managerial, individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aims of this paper are to explore the rise of cyberhate on the Zoom video conferencing platform at the outset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to examine victimized cases of Zoombombing where it was used as a cyberhate tool. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted our lives and modes of working and studying, but also created new environments for cybercriminals to engage in cybercrime, cyberhate and hacking by exploiting tools such as Zoom. This new phenomenon called "Zoombombing" was first reported in mid-March 2020, when the social distancing and stay-at-home policies in the United States were nationally introduced. Design/methodology/approach: This research conducted a news media content analysis on cases of Zoombombing. To conduct this analysis empirically, a dataset with all of the reported Zoombombing cases from March to April 2020 was created. Google Trends, news media and tweets were used to analyze Zoombombing as a form of cyberhate, particularly digital racism. Findings: The results reveal prevalent Zoom-mediated racism toward Asian Americans, African Americans and Jewish Americans. This study understands Zoombombing from a sociopolitical/cultural perspective through news reporting of victimized cases and explores various ways that Zoombombing shapes, mediates, transforms and escalates racism. Originality/value: This study is one of the very first studies to analyze Zoombombing in a way that builds upon an emerging body of literature on cyberhate. This paper considers Zoom as a space where curious young people, cybercriminals, extremists and hackers impose their ideologies and beliefs upon newly established online learning and working environments and engage in a struggle for identity recognition in the midst of increasingly accessible vulnerable software and cyberspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The pandemic situation has increased the domestic violence rate against women and children significantly around the world. However, it is difficult to measure the accurate rate of increased domestic violence because of restrictions and limited mobility in accessing help and reporting. This paper aims to highlight the current situation of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and domestic violence in Bangladesh. It also states the challenges of the unprecedented situation and how to encounter increasing domestic violence cases. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is a viewpoint of the COVID-19 pandemic and domestic violence situation in Bangladesh. Accordingly, this paper includes a comprehensive literature review that summarises related articles and newspapers on domestic violence. Findings: Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to COVID-19 because of its most dense population. Currently, the COVID-19 virus is spreading rapidly in all parts of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing domestic violence for women and girls. Because of the lockdown, financial stress and livelihood scarcity, domestic violence rates show an increasing tendency that should not be overlooked to ensure the safety and security of women and girls in Bangladesh. Originality/value: This paper delivers information about the current situation of COVID-19 in Bangladesh and the challenges of domestic violence that have risen. This paper will be helpful to policymakers, government and non-government officials for developing effective social safety net interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the experience of one large Irish youth work organisation, Foróige, to measures introduced during the initial phase of COVID-19 in 2020. In the face of the unprecedented crisis including the closure of schools and curtailment of many youth services, this paper examines how the organisation responded and adapted its service offering. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior managers and youth officers in Foróige to explore their perspectives on the organisation's response. Participants were purposively sampled from across the operational management functions and also from regional levels and youth workers engaging in work "on the ground". Findings: Shifting from a face-to -face, relationship-based to a distanced mode of engagement with young people, colleagues and volunteers required significant adaptation of Foróige's service model. Innovation took place both in the delivery platform and fundamentally, in its service orientation. The accelerated move to online youth work brought about by the pandemic enabled the organisation to embrace and learn from the challenges and opportunities posed by digital technology. Responding to the immediate and tangible needs of young people in receipt of services, staff found themselves working with families at the more basic levels of intervention. Originality/value: This paper provides new insights into the nature of non-profit service innovation during a time of unprecedented crisis management. It highlights characteristics of organisational agility that can assist organisations in managing crises, while also pointing the way towards a more flexible operating model for youth work service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]